What does the research say about biopsies spreading cancer?
Every medical procedure carries risks. Biopsies carry a small risk of bleeding and
infection. In recent studies, scientists have worked to quantify the risks and benefits of biopsies in an effort to better inform patients and fellow physicians.
Several studies and
reports of individual cases confirm that tumor seeding only very rarely occurs, and that the benefits of biopsies far outweigh the risks. For example, a 2008 review in the journal
Gutshowed that needle track seeding occurred in 2.7% of
liver cancer biopsies. In a 2015
BJU International study, however, researchers reviewed previous studies and found that the incidence of needle track seeding was low (less than 1%). In a 2013 study in
Endoscopy, researchers found no difference in cancer recurrence in 256 patients with pancreatic cancer who did and did not receive biopsies. Then, in a later 2015 study in
Gut, the same researchers found that biopsies were not associated with an increased risk of dying in a database of 2,034 Medicare patients with pancreatic cancer. More recently, in a 2019 study in
Urology, researchers found that the core needle biopsy technique was safe and effective in 42 patients with
bladder cancer and that seeding did not occur after 28 months of follow-up.
Overall, while it is not impossible for needle seeding to occur during a biopsy, it is rare.